Thoroughly enjoyable, maybe not the same impact as previous finales, but felt like the perfect end to this season. I think I would have enjoyed a little more build-up before the Terminus villain-swerve, after all the time they spent getting there it just seemed to go bad a little fast.

That whole scene with Rick and co versus the scruffy dudes was so powerful that the rest of the episode felt a little flat by comparison. That was just brutal...Rick tearing the guy's throat out, Daryl stomping on that dude's head, and then Rick going to work on that sick, fat would-be rapist. Loved that the camera cut away to Carl's face and you could still hear him stabbing that POS! Hell yes.

I have to agree with Rick's assessment at this point - those Termites ARE screwed. Not exactly a bunch of bad-asses to begin with, Rick and crew strolling right through their "back door", being stupid enough to take the watch off Glenn, etc. Lots of creepy stuff going on there though...the room full of candles and the names on the floor, the cage of defleshed bones, etc. Eesh.

Nice that they worked in some extra scenes with Hersel and co...that was a nice parallel I thought.

Andrew Lincoln was great on TD...still freaks me out to hear that English accent.

I was surprised at all the little things I caught during the episode. Pile of human remains that Rick and co. ran by right before they went into that tribute room, and Apple Store Employee saying something about "joining together makes us stronger" when distributing the food. Cannibals confirmed. Also the discussion about the Rabbit trap foreshadowing Terminus. Oh, and the Terminus people calling Rick and co. by nicknames. Goes back to earlier when Rick told Carl not to name the pigs since they'd have to eat them eventually.

They did a great job mirroring the situations. Also - Carl asking Rick if they were going to tell the people at Terminus everything that has happened to them and all that they have done. Rick saying they will tell them who they are - Carl responding with "How do we do that?". We know our group's back story - so we can side with them in all that they have done to save the ones they love. The Termites seem like pure evil to us - even though we would probably be more sympathetic to them if we knew them like we did our core group (not that we could necessarily stomach Rick & Co. eating other survivors). They must have had run ins with other groups - they had Never Trust Again painted on the walls.

Oh and what was up with that doofus who got swarmed by those Zombies in the woods? How did he last that long? I mean he had at least a few minutes to, ya know, run away from that hoard in just about any direction instead of standing there like an idiot swinging his stick in a circle.

Maybe he somehow escaped Terminus and was running in a blind panic

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"Y'all know you're the only ones with the Jesus fish in the titty bar parking lot" - Name*********************************************************Cancer Sucks

Some really good thoughts on the ending from you guys... Diddly had awesome foreshadowing ideas I hadn't considered. I'm leaning (was anyway but now more so) to them being cannibals at Terminus. Also caught the bones though and that, to me, plus the creepy **** that was around, leads me to think Tasha Yar's a bit of a female governor herself + cannibal.

I totally agree that the height of the episode was Rick channeling his inner-Shane and going ape**** on the bikers. Claim that, asshat. Rick is, was, and always shall be THE badass in this show. To me he always comes out as the one you would want in your group if you could only have one. He gets ragged on for various things, but from putting down Sophia to this episode's freak-out and destruction of tough people with an upper-hand, it just all reinforced to me how Rick is hands down my favorite character on the show. Love Darryl or Michonne all ya want, but Rick is where it's at!

I really think some people will be f'd up early next season in Terminus. Now we have to wait.

Carol/Tyrese seemed a ways behind everyone in my estimation... Given the "run" from that zombie hoard on the tracks after the doofus that got swarmed and I think that Rick/Carl/Michonne got that much further ahead of Carol/Tyrese, who now have that little mini-hoard blocking their path somewhat to Terminus.

I think Carol/Tyrese wind up playing a role in Rick & The Gang getting out of Terminus, and Carol does some major ass kicking perhaps. It's her time to shine.

Beth, again I agree, she's somewhere else at this point I think. Maybe not, but she's sort of forgotten at this point it seems.

The Terminus people were definitely herding Rick's group but I feel like they were also a far more inept group of people. Rick's final words are going to ring true. They're dead meat. It's so weird this ended on a "dark" note but yet you almost look at the people with the upper hand as the ones in the most trouble.

Awesome finale - just finished watching it. I love that everyone's reunited, or at least most of them now. Smart that Rick planted those weapons out in the woods too. There's a few big questions I have after this though...

#1 - why do they allow Rick's group to reclaim their weapons when they first get there? Why not just pop up with the guns right away and force them to the box car? Seems like a lot of wasted bullets and maze running just to disarm them and get them in a car, when they could have put the drop on them and done the same thing.

#2 - there were definitely other people in the other box cars when they ran by. I wonder if there's anyone we know? Beth maybe?

#3 - That bone pit/slaughter pen and Tasha Yar serving fresh cooked meat sure seems to support the cannibal theory. "joining together makes us stronger?" Ish. I bet the food she is cooking has sedatives and that's how they knocked out Glenn's group. The last line in the show is directly from the comic, so that was a nice clue thrown to the comic fans I think.

#4 - In the last episode with Carol and Tyrese, the girls see a stack of smoke followed by a swarm of freshly cooked zombies. Any thoughts on where they came from? I wonder if they are several days behind the others and those burnt bodies are from something that happens at Terminus? Maybe Rick and Co set the place on fire to escape? Seems like a room full of candles might help enable that. I wonder if Dark-Rick throws his captors in a box car and burns them alive....I hope they go back and explain that part of the story next season.

#5 - A few episodes back, Tyrese tries to save those guys getting attacked by the tracks. The last guy gets bit, but he tells them to go to Terminus as it is a "safe haven for children." So, was he so demented that his dying words were to screw the people that just tried to save him? Or do they maybe protect the kids that arrive? Maybe they'll let Carl out and he'll turn the tide.

#1 - why do they allow Rick's group to reclaim their weapons when they first get there? Why not just pop up with the guns right away and force them to the box car? Seems like a lot of wasted bullets and maze running just to disarm them and get them in a car, when they could have put the drop on them and done the same thing.

I was wondering the same thing, but then rationalized it based on the same theory you stated below:

#3 - That bone pit/slaughter pen and Tasha Yar serving fresh cooked meat sure seems to support the cannibal theory. "joining together makes us stronger?" Ish. I bet the food she is cooking has sedatives and that's how they knocked out Glenn's group. The last line in the show is directly from the comic, so that was a nice clue thrown to the comic fans I think.

That has to be how they subdue anyone who comes in. They pretend to be friendly, offer them food and drink, don't make the people who come in nervous by demanding them to turn over their weapons, merely to lower them.

Once the people eat the food, they've consumed sedatives and when they are unconscious they are relieved of their possessions and then put into a storage car for future slaughter.

I have to wonder if the folks at Terminus will be the show's version of The Hunters. The Hunters base of operations wasn't explored much in the comics that I recall, I think it was suburban homes surrounded by fences, so from a "realistic" standpoint, having the Hunters stationed at an abandoned freight train terminal that would have naturally been secured to a degree, to avoid loaded freight cars, from being robbed, seems like a much better place to set up shop.

Almost makes me wonder if the show is putting off having to move locale to Virginia as long as possible.

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!